UnitZ28

Alright, this is my first build up for an lt1 and posting here.. I know some of my questions have been asked before but every engine is different..
I'm building a 94 camaro with an all forged 383 with H-beam rods and flat top pistons. I'm usin gapless total seal rings. Ported out stock heads with stock valves. Large double valve springs with a dampner and titanium 10 deg keepers..not sure on the spring pressure. Pro magnum lifters and 1.6 roller rockers, reg push rods. ported intake manifold for the bbk 58mm tb. stock injectors still. Pacesetter long tubes w/ y pipe and a cut out... stock muffler to look... stock New opti with the Delteq system. The questions i have are what would be a good cam for this combo? I was thinking of an lt4 hot cam set up but with .550 lift? (let me know if thats a bad idea) Who makes a good harmonic balancer for a good price? What cylinder head gasket should I run? Who makes a complete gaskets and seal kit of the lt1? Is getting the meziere electric water pump worth it? If it is what, what timing chain should I run? I have a hughes built perf 4L60E with a 2500 stall. It only has a stage 1 shift kit in it should I go for stage 2? Will the stock pcm run this engine? or will I need to have it tuned? I know i should tune it. Other mods are, HD universals on the rebalanced driveshaft and 3.42s in the back. The car has full polly mounts sus/eng/trans. billstien HD shocks in front. tokico adj shocks in the back, with the hotchkis control arms and panhard bar, with the front upper strut stablizer. Could ya guys help me out? thanks Travis

lt1taracing

alot of your build up sounds familiar. mine is a 383 with speedpro flattop forged pistons, scat ultralite forged rods, and scat cast crank. i run the factory harmonic balancer. although its for an internally balanced eng. so, i had to have weight added to the crank when i had it balanced.plasma moly rings, and a comp. xfi 230-236 576-570 lift (based on 1.6 rockers) on a 113 lsa. i dont think the hot cam is a very good cam from what i've heard. my heads are the original ones with the stock valves but ported by a friend. stock intake with a 58mm t/b. stock lifters, stock pushrods, 1.6 comp. rollertip rockers with dual springs. hooker 1 3/4 full lenth headers. you'll need it tuned. mine is a 93 so, i had a chip burned for it. i run 36lb. ford motorsport inj.s stock oil pump, stock timing chain and a meziere w/p. you should choose a cam based around your torque conv. for best performance. i ran a turbo350 trans. and played around with the stall speed till i was happy (around 3000). the cam i run says it comes in around 2500 but its more like 2800-3000. i run 3.50 grs. in a 9". cars n/a best is a 7.09@97 in the 8th. and 11.1@122 in the 1/4. with n2o its 6.36@110 in the 8th and it went a 10.02 @140 on a 6.41 8th pass. 6.36 should be 9.9s. i dont get to run the 1/4 that much.

UnitZ28

cool thanks!.. how streeteble is your car?

Landon@Texas Speed

i'd go with a set of LT4 heads at least....but my stockers have held up well, just know that there is power left on the table there. An LT4 hot cam kit is barely enough cam for a stock motor, its old technology and there are far better offerings out there. I run a 306 in mione and love it! There is a vendor on ebay that selld complete upper and lower sets of gaskets for LT1's

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Compl...spagenameZWD1V

last, i would HIGHLY recommend a retune of the computer, as a stock tne is no-where near what this motor wil be wanting as far as fuel. etc.

UnitZ28

Thanks for the link .. what timing chain did youy use? I want to put a double roller in mine but i dont know where to get one.

Landon@Texas Speed

not too sure what year your car is...but In order to run the Cloyes Double Roller timing chain (part# 9-3145), you'll need to upgrade to the 1995+ optispark, run a CSI (?) electric water pump, as well as a 1995+ CAMSHAFT, timing cover (you still might have to grind this a little), opti harness, etc. This obviously, is quite a bit of work if you have a pre 95 car

http://www.lingenfelter.com/store/9-3145.html

UnitZ28

its a 94 i dont really want to get into that. if i run an electric w/p do i still have to run gm's hd chain?

Landon@Texas Speed

if you're wanting to stay with the stock-ish setup i'd run the LT4 extreme duty....havent heard of many failiures there....

chris77

go with aftermarker castings and ditch the hotcam. you will be alot happier with something bigger.

lt1taracing

my car is very streetable. you can call comp. and they can recomend a cam. i really like the 230-236xfi.

UnitZ28

awesome, thanks for all the info guys does anyone know what the syptoms are for a converter goin bad... I havea hughes 2500 stall and it seems like its slippin the trans is brand new from hughes

lt1taracing

usually it will start stalling higher rpms. most of the time its the trans. slipping. jumps on the rev. limiter between 1st and 2nd gear change under wot.

Old SStroker

You need to decide what performance and driveability you want from your serious investment in an engine, and then have the engine designed to achieve that. Some of the things you mentioned aren't very compatible. Even professionally ported heads with stock valve size will be a restriction to making power with a 383.

Spend your money where it will do the most good; getting air in and out of the engine. Whoever specs your cam needs to know a lot about your desires and the heads as well as gear, stall, etc. There is probably not a shelf cam that is optimum for your combination. The various valvetrain parts (springs, retainers, pushrods, etc.) should be chosen to compliment the cam and rpm range of your engine.

Fortunately, there are a lot of similar engine/vehicle combinations out there. Some work, some don't. The ones that work have all the parts matched to accomplish the owner's goals. I can't stress how important that is.

You might consider talking to some of the folks who supply head & cam packages for the LT1 about your desires. While they might not all have the same exact recommendations, they will probably be similar.

Do a lot of research before you buy parts or start a build. You can always sell the "wrong" parts to someone else.

Good luck!

lt1taracing

i'm running the stock valves in my factory heads but are ported. the friend that ported them said i'd only pick up around 10cfm going to bigger valves. im sure that would be an improvement but i dont think very much. he has a flowbench and has done alot of heads. he did a set of ported stock ones for another friend and got 271cfm@ .600. he said mine were around 260cfm. another friend has a set of fully cnc afr 180's. i dont remeber the flow#'s. i know they were a good bit better than mine but as of yet his car doesnt run as good as mine. engines are all the same spec.s except the cam which could be slowing him down. his best all motor is 7.3s in the 8th. i guess combo is everything. cars are within 20lbs. of each other but i weigh about 60lbs. heavier than he does.

UnitZ28

You're right about matchin i'll do that.. i just dont know what my springs are.. my dad got some victor jr heads and these springs were on it... they look pretty beefy... I'm gonna get them checked out to see what they are they came with the 10 deg locks and they fit in my heads for free i heard k800 springs are good if i need to change them.

Landon@Texas Speed

If you're looking for heads...lloyd elliot makes some good ones, check him out.